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Fathead Anthias Issue (Serranocirrhitus latus)

3

32Bit_Fish

Guest
Guys,

I bought a fathead anthias (Serranocirrhitus latus) on Saturday and it is in my QT tan right now. It was eating mysis and brine shrimps in store's fish tank.

I noticed there is blood red mark on one of his fin (around the fin root area). The fish also produce white feces. So I guess it's going to die soon, correct?

I'm assuming red/blood fin is caused by bacteria infection and white feces is caused by internal parasites.

I'm not sure how would anthia respond to medications. So I haven't dose anything. Also the fish hide alot and only active when no one is around the tank.
 
Domboski

Domboski

No Coral Here
Manhattan Reefs
Location
Montclair, NJ
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Try dosing cupramine. The fish is most likely on its way out but try dosing cupramine per the directions and hope the fish feels good enough quickly to start eating again. Make sure you do a water change before you dose the cupramine. If I were you I would take these exact steps:

1- Do a large water change in the QT tank
2- Run Carbon overnight on the QT tank
3- Take carbon off line tomorrow morning and dose cupramine per the directions.

Hope that this helps! It has worked for me a lot of the time but you still need a little luck on your side. If you can, get some selcon and soak mysis in it before you feed the Anthias. You can try feeding live brine the selcon too before feeding them to the Anthias as well.
 
3

32Bit_Fish

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Domboski said:
Try dosing cupramine. The fish is most likely on its way out but try dosing cupramine per the directions and hope the fish feels good enough quickly to start eating again. Make sure you do a water change before you dose the cupramine. If I were you I would take these exact steps:

1- Do a large water change in the QT tank
2- Run Carbon overnight on the QT tank
3- Take carbon off line tomorrow morning and dose cupramine per the directions.

Hope that this helps! It has worked for me a lot of the time but you still need a little luck on your side. If you can, get some selcon and soak mysis in it before you feed the Anthias. You can try feeding live brine the selcon too before feeding them to the Anthias as well.
Click to expand...

Thanks for your input. I thought cupramine is effective treating ICH, so it's for treating parasites. The issue with the fin is a bacteria infection?
 
Domboski

Domboski

No Coral Here
Manhattan Reefs
Location
Montclair, NJ
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Copper kills a lot more than just ich. Its hard to say about the red on the fin. The way you described it made me think parasite instantly. A good pic would help decide for sure though. In any case, I don't recommend using bacterial treatments. Keeping the water clean and treating with cupramine will have a higher chance of success. Good bacterial treatments will cause havoc for your biological filtration putting more pressure on you to keep up with the water quality. That's not easy to do without being able to constantly monitor the water variables which is unrealistic for most people.
 
3

32Bit_Fish

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Domboski said:
Copper kills a lot more than just ich. Its hard to say about the red on the fin. The way you described it made me think parasite instantly. A good pic would help decide for sure though. In any case, I don't recommend using bacterial treatments. Keeping the water clean and treating with cupramine will have a higher chance of success. Good bacterial treatments will cause havoc for your biological filtration putting more pressure on you to keep up with the water quality. That's not easy to do without being able to constantly monitor the water variables which is unrealistic for most people.
Click to expand...

I tried to take some pics, but it just hide behind the filter. So it's tough to take a good shot of him.

I need copper test kit for this treatment, right? Thanks
 
Domboski

Domboski

No Coral Here
Manhattan Reefs
Location
Montclair, NJ
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Someone PM'd me a good question/thought. Posting here to share my experiences:

Quick question..........How is copper(cupramine) going to help a fish with cyanide poisoning? I understand you agree this fish is more than likely a gonner,but if anything a copper treatment will bring on more stress and how will it cure red streaks and white feces. More than likely this fish came from Philippines.
Click to expand...

Domboski said:
Fat head Anthias are not from the Philippines. Not sure how you know for sure it has cyanide poisoning and if it does, there is nothing you can do although some people will say methylene blue will help but I don't have a good experience with it. If it was in the store and eating, I doubt it has cyanide poisoning.

Copper in general is effective at keeping bacterial infections at bay (not eliminate them but help keep them at a non-fatal level in a lot of cases when combined with good water quality). Most likely the fish has internal parasites causing the white feces. I have found cupramine to quickly make fish feel better when overwhelmed with parasites and help get them eating quickly. Once they are eating again their own immune system will be boosted (vitamin supplements help too hence my recommendation). Generally I prefer to use Copper Power but it does not work as quickly as cupramine in my experience.
Click to expand...
 
3

32Bit_Fish

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My QT tank is a 10g BB tank with a HOB filter. I will try to buy cupermine locally. Otherwise, it would be too late to safe the fish if I need to order the med online.

I did a 25% w/c last night. Should I turn off the filter during feeding? I notice the food get suck in the filter.
 
Domboski

Domboski

No Coral Here
Manhattan Reefs
Location
Montclair, NJ
Rating - 100%
237   0   0
You should be able to find it locally easily. Cupramine is commonly available.

Make sure you have some water movement in the QT tank. Anthias are water column feeders so the food floating around the tank is a better way to feed them. If you shut everything down the food will just sink to the bottom and the fish will not eat it.
 
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32Bit_Fish

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Domboski said:
It takes too long to get the salt levels down and takes way too long for the low levels to kill parasites. If your fish is not eating and is stressed, it will be dead before any benefit for hypo even begins.
Click to expand...

Ok, thanks for quick response.
 
3

32Bit_Fish

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Anthias are so pretty, the color just amaze me.

Would it do well with oce clowns in a 38g?
 
3

32Bit_Fish

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beerfish said:
Anthias usually require a pretty large tank. I've considered them, but am concerned about only having a 75g.
Click to expand...

I get mixed information from research. Some sites suggested min of 30G where others suggested 100G. They are not active swimmers like tang, all they do just hide, correct me if I am wrong.
 
3

32Bit_Fish

Guest
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Guys,

The little one ate some brine shrimp and mysis shrimp this morning. :biggrin:
 
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